


Spectrum

by poisson (hotarumyst)



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:32:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6390310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotarumyst/pseuds/poisson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jude goes into heat in the middle of his three-day train ride to Drellin in pursuit of a profitable research opportunity. For better or worse, he also happens to be sharing a cabin with a particular Spirius agent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spectrum

**Author's Note:**

> \- tried to make it relatively canon compliant, just with the addition of a/b/o-verse into the established canon
> 
> \- marking as underage because Jude is canonically 16

Jude likes to make use of the hidden crawl spaces whenever he goes into heat. Elympios’s highroads are barren and relatively safe, and the Alest highroad in particular, with its undulating canyon walls and haphazard arrays of boulders, has proven itself a good place to hide when things get intense.

It isn’t that Jude resents being an omega. Despite its sprawling urban centers and crowded ports, things are more spread out here in Elympios, far from home, far from Rieze Maxia, where everything operates on intuition and _"magic"_ and the underlying fear that things might not work out that time, because despite the countries operating with relative ease, no one really understands why things work except for the higher ups, who like to keep wisdom under wraps. Wisdom is another word for power, anyway, and an idiom passed down from somewhere Auj Oule states that those who are weak don’t need to trouble themselves with the temptation of power. Meanwhile in Elympios, pulling yourself up from your dirty steel-lined bootstraps is the pinnacle of power, while hard science completely governs the worlds’ physics. Science explains the symptoms of alphas and omegas as well, and having at least an estimated guess as to what to expect during Jude’s heat is comforting to say the least. Between Rashugal and Auj Oule there lies a wide spectrum of stereotypes and people’s feelings toward male omegas, while at least in Elympios it’s a big more homogenous: as long as you’re a respectable person, you’ll be treated just like everyone else. Which was more or less like trash.

Of course, all of that added together still beats having to live under the judgmental gaze of his father.

Jude had left home at age 12 under the guise of wanting to start medical school early, and his parents had believed him at the time. It was partly true, anyway— he didn’t need hormonal imbalances getting in the way of one of the most taxing portions of a medical student’s life. He just purposely left out the part about locking himself in one of the examination room closets as he waited the grueling couple of hours for his first heat to pass, stuffing a wad of gauze in his mouth to keep himself quiet, and biting down on his tongue when it just ended up making him even _more_ uncomfortable in those parts. Jude, unlike most teenagers of that age, knew what was happening. He hadn’t been studying under his father, one of the most prestigious doctors in the area, for nothing. Every few weeks they’d gotten the odd alpha who needed to be sedated, the omega who needed to be sterilely brought to release, the beta with their worried parents complaining about not presenting one way or the other, "and she’s already 16 years old!" The sex education in Leronde left something to be desired, and it always fell on Jude’s mother to explain to wide-eyed parents that betas can present neither alpha nor omega, or to sit and mediate the conversation between parents and a teenager who's been hiding their progression into puberty. As a family well-versed in the science of the human body, they presented as a high functioning set of coworkers at their best moments, Jude and Ellen and Derrick Mathis. That was where the functionality ended, though.

Jude ended up telling Leia the truth after a while through a drunken letter, and she'd let it slip to Jude's mother, who must've told his father, but Jude can never be sure about those things because he and his father haven't had a real conversation in ten years, give or take. He wonders if some unconscious part of himself had decided to tell Leia despite knowing that she couldn't keep a secret for more than 48 hours. He wonders if a part of him had grown tired of carrying the burden alone.

Jude's mother had called him immediately. They’d said their greetings, and she let a comfortable silence pass between them before asking carefully if Jude had all he needed and reminding him to stay safe and reminding him that suppressants were always an option and, "Oh, honey, I wish you were at home so we could help you through this together." Her rambling only came through when she let down her guard, and that in itself had brought tears to Jude’s eyes and a strong wave of homesickness. But they both knew in the empty space between them how much of a 'help' his father's presence would've been.

"I can take care of myself, Mom," Jude had said in reply, though he never tired of hearing the calming lilt of her voice, even when she was concerned. She'd sent him routine care packages after that with samples of all sorts of new medicines in the field that she'd gotten firsthand from the pharmacy, and Jude wondered if that was even legal, but decided not to bring it up when he was sick in bed with a pounding headache and the only thing that dulled it enough for him to get some reading done was one of the sketchy medicines.

Here in Elympios, no one asks if you're an alpha or a beta or an omega, unless you’re wandering the back alleys of Duval past midnight, and Jude has only heard the horror stories about that passed down between the undergrads. Jude himself passes as one until he has to sit in for a sick professor some days, garnering heckling from his students, which he pretty much ignores. Time passes more or less uneventfully for Jude compared to the hectic days of his childhood where one mistake could mean a person’s life, and Jude prefers it this way, to be completely honest. He might be living week to week with no idea whether or not he’ll have enough money for food for the next month, and he might be writing and rewriting and rewriting grant requests for more or less the same thing month after month, just reworded with more fluff, and he might be wearing the same clothes for two weeks because he doesn’t have time or energy to do the wash, but every tough decision comes with sacrifices.

—

Why, then, Jude had opted to take the three-day train across Elympios to some unexplored regions near the Drellin area during the time his heat was scheduled to start still baffles him. The payout far outweighs the risk; Jude had begrudgingly triple-checked his calculations for this excursion, and he’d wind up getting paid triple his usual salary for the month, plus he’d be able to start writing a few patents for the machinery he’d helped engineer; all that just for testing the machines out near Lake Epsilla and writing up a semi-decent report for Balan to present to the higher-ups. He’d monitored the engineering for weeks, so he’s almost certain it’ll work out, and he doesn’t have much to lose. It’s just the timing that’s killing him, but it’s honestly no excuse for this kind of opportunity. Plus, he's short on money so he can't afford to cancel his trip, and walking through cities like Trigleph and Duval during that time would be far riskier, especially given Duval's reputation for dangerous trips down its winding alleyways.

Jude drops his bag next to the bunk in his shared cabin as he vaguely registers an announcement for all passengers to carefully check their luggage and ready their tickets for the conductor. He'd packed a new brand of emergency suppressants in an inside pocket of his bag, but he would like to avoid taking them if possible; last time, they'd given him the worst headaches and nausea that he ever experienced, and he spent most of the time in bed anyway, just about as miserable as he'd have been if he'd locked himself in the bathroom and slept through his heat.

The cabin door slides open after a click, and Jude glances up to a young man, a couple inches taller than Jude, wearing a navy button down and carrying a sleek leather briefcase that looks like it could be worth more than how much Jude would make if he were to sell all his body parts on the black market. Jude shifts away subconsciously, not wanting to dirty it. He can tell that the man is sizing Jude up as well in a brief glance; the way his gaze flicks over Jude's arms and legs shows that he has experience with combat and martial artes, much like Jude himself, and is subconsciously measuring Jude’s chances against his own. It’s ironically comforting, though— even though the man’s clearly thinking combat, the shared suspicion between them calms Jude somewhat. It’s encouraging to know that he’s not taking Jude to be a pushover, which is what Jude’s been labeled by his peers because he can’t be assed to pick fights with them.

The one outstanding feature that Jude’s eyes instantly flick to, though, is the emblem of Spirius Corporation pinned to the man's shirt. The crossed swords are as flashy as ever, advertising the corporation’s influence in the region. Some make snide remarks that Spirius might be overcompensating for something, but honestly if they have the money to back it up, it’s not like anyone can do anything about it. Jude flashes as friendly of a smile as he can muster, hoping it doesn't look too fake. "Spirius Corp, huh?" Jude says, nodding toward the emblem, not wanting to make eye contact with any of the man's other clothes, as if the wrong expression alone could dirty them. "Shouldn't you be in the first class cabin?"

The man smiles, and his facial features instantly soften, putting Jude at ease with alarming speed. Jude wants to be even more wary than he'd been before, but the earnestness in the man's eyes makes Jude's shoulders relax into a slouch, almost as if on command. "I don't like wasting company money," the man says quietly.

"Ah, I know that feeling," Jude says, laughing. He's not sure what impression he's getting of the guy; a Spirius agent who's fiscally conscious isn't something Jude runs into every day. He offers a hand as a sort of peace offering. "Jude Mathis. I'm originally from Rieze Maxia, but I'm here on a research grant."

He’s said too much. Jude’s hand flinches at the realization, but he stands his ground holding it out, not wanting to look more suspicious than he already does.

"Ludger Kresnik," Ludger replies easily, shaking Jude's hand. Jude swears he feels a violent shiver run the length of his arm and down his spine and into the bedframe at Ludger's touch, but it's gone just as it arrives, and Jude tightens his hand around Ludger's. Ludger's hands are calloused, no doubt from hours of training with blades or possibly guns, but the flesh under the hard surface gives way to a sort of softness that makes Jude want to run his fingers up and down Ludger's palms.

"Not often you hear that name thrown around," Jude says, clearing his throat after a long pause where they'd started staring each other in the eye awkwardly. Ludger’s eyes are green and vibrant and unlike any Jude’s ever seen before, and they contrast with the rest of Ludger’s stark, utilitarian complexion. "Descendant of the great Milla Kresnik?"

"More or less," Ludger replies with a shrug and a grin. He tilts his head at Jude's labcoat, tipping to his piqued curiosity.

"Oh," Jude says, laughing, finally withdrawing his hand (with a curious reluctance) to smooth down the lapels. "I'm a med student, but I also specialize in anthropology, too. I just love that sort of stuff," he continues. It's a hobby for him; Jude remembers a love for learning all throughout his childhood, flitting from bookshelf to bookshelf, devouring any new information he could get his hands on. He remembers criticisms from his father about being too easily distracted, about having to buckle down and settle in one field someday, and those words carrying over to push Jude to maintain the delicate balance between spending his time researching beta-genetic anatomy, a rather dry subject, or researching iconic beta spirits in Rieze Maxian history, many of whom followed the alpha spirit Milla in commonplace Rieze Maxian creation legend. "I honestly wish more people knew about Milla Kresnik, or that history were studied more in general. But I guess it's not a pressing need in our current economic state." Jude crosses his legs and smooths his hands across his pants. "But isn't it you guys' job to fix that?"

Ludger glances up at Jude with a wavering smile, eyes blown out in a tired kind of way, and Jude immediately regrets bringing it up. "I'm not really in the analytics department," Ludger says, looking desperate to drop the subject, so Jude lets it go.

Ludger on the surface seems like a beta himself, or possibly an omega. He's clearly older than Jude; child labor laws prevent anyone younger than Jude from working those sorts of positions, anyway, so Ludger must have presented by this point. The fact that Jude is even thinking about this at all is a clear sign that his heat is coming soon, and as long as he can get Ludger out of the room for a few hours, though it may not be necessary if Ludger turns out to be a fellow omega.

It’s the stress that has been building up over the past few weeks, submitting obviously subpar papers to Balan while simultaneously trying to keep track of Mary and the rest of his colleagues. It weighs down on Jude’s shoulders like the Lance of Kresnik, and Jude wonders how he’d been able to deal with it all through high school, along with the added burden of keeping it from his parents, his friends, and basically everyone he’d known. Leaving home seemed like the far superior option at the time, but Jude’s mind wanders every now and then, when he’s particularly stressed, to how it might have been if he’d had a normal childhood, supportive parents, the whole shebang.

Ludger, parked on the edge of the bunk, types away for some time on his GHS, his knees spread apart and bouncing against his briefcase. Jude settles on watching him to make the time pass, because if Jude has been nothing else, he’s at least learned to be attentive and observant. Ludger’s facial expressions are mild and subtle, shifting from pursed eyebrows—frustration—to a fond smile every now and then; Jude presumes he might be contacting a significant other or family.

After a while, Ludger stands with a sigh and stretches, his hands curling out with almost childlike motions. Besides the rumbling of the train tracks their cabin is silent, so when Ludger’s stomach rumbles, it’s embarrassingly loud, and Jude can’t hold back a light laugh. Ludger grins sheepishly at Jude, rubbing his own stomach. "Hungry," he murmurs, trudging toward the cabin door. They’re near a dining cabin, and Ludger gives Jude a glance.

The thought of food makes Jude feel slightly nauseated at the moment, so he manages a small shake of his head. "You go," Jude says. "I’ll catch up with you later," he says, and Ludger’s expression becomes soft again, that softness that Jude had instinctively picked up on a few hours ago when they’d met.

Eventually, Ludger returns with a plain roll and a glass of water. Jude doesn't know how much time has passed; he'd managed to fall asleep while Ludger was gone, and he wakes up to Ludger placing the water and bread on his nightstand. Jude somehow seems to smell Ludger more strongly than he does the food, a sharp scent that's musky and distinctly masculine but at the same time gentle and homey, not unlike Ludger's personality under all that Spirius pretense, an effective defense. Ludger's style— gunmetal hair with a streak of raven, sharp green eyes, are already intimidating, and Ludger, having trained at Spirius, must have learned to act stoic and hide himself in the face of unfamiliar situations. Jude comes to wonder, then, why Ludger's eyes are staring gently down at Jude in his delirious state, as if assessing him.

"Thanks," Jude murmurs, his voice cracking from sleep.

Ludger smiles and swings himself up to his bunk as his GHS rings. "Elle," Ludger says, and a high-pitched voice replies in an affirmative.

"Ludger!"

Ludger laughs in a light reply, and the sound of it comforts Jude in a sort of motherly way. Jude curls into a ball, hugging his knees and rolling toward the wall, vaguely registering the conversation between Ludger and Elle, whom Jude assumes to be his daughter, or possibly sister, judging from Ludger’s age. It isn’t unheard of to breed young, though Ludger can’t possibly be older than 25, and Elle sounds somewhere around 10, which is a bit of a stretch.

"I miss your cooking, Julius isn’t half as good as you are!" Elle whines, and a muted, "Hey!" comes from afar.

"The cafeteria food here isn’t great, either," Ludger replies.

"I’m sure it’s better than anything Julius could make," Elle says, and Julius grumbles in the background.

The quiet sound of sizzling fashions a despairingly homesick knot in Jude’s stomach; his mother wasn’t the greatest cook, but just the thought of homemade food tightens the frown on Jude’s face. He doesn’t know how long it’s been; between instant noodles and scrounging for leftovers in the research center’s common kitchen, Jude, for a doctor, hasn’t been keeping up with getting the best nutrition, and whether or not it takes a toll on his body is just the result of a gratification too delayed to be bothered with.

"Jude?" Ludger says, and his voice is suddenly a lot closer.

"Hm?" Jude replies, though his voice sounds a lot brighter than his disposition, if his body language is anything to go by.

"Elle wants to meet you," Ludger says quietly. "Sorry, were you sleeping?"

"I’m not sure," Jude admits, turning around. Ludger, whose head is hanging over the side of the bunk, laughs. He holds his GHS up to Jude’s face, and Jude can see the resemblance in Elle’s bright green eyes peering through the screen.

"You better not bully Ludger! Just 'cause he’s really easy to bully doesn’t mean you can bully him," Elle says, and Ludger sighs.

"I’m not really the bullying type," Jude replies with a weak smile, "but it’s nice to meet you, too."

"He’s Spirius’s head agent, which means he could beat you up if he had to!" Elle says.

Ludger sputters a, "Hey, Elle!" and Jude laughs.

"I’m sure he could," Jude says, wincing slightly at a sudden flash of heat through his core.

After a pause, Elle’s eyes looking at him so intensely that Jude breaks the stare-down first, Elle says, "Hey, are you okay?"

Jude thought he’d concealed it pretty well, but perceptiveness must run in the family. Ludger zeroes in on Jude then, his gaze becoming focused and his lips pursing into a stern line. "Yeah, I just must’ve come down with something," Jude lies, waving his hand. "Sorry you had to meet me like this."

"I thought you were a doctor!" Elle says. "Hey, Ludger! Don’t bully Jude in his weakened state. That would just be unfair."

"Okay, let’s let Jude rest," Ludger says in that soft voice of his, drawing the GHS away and shooting Jude an apologetic look, though it’s still pointed in a way, lingering on him and shifting to different parts of Jude’s body, but Jude can’t seem to place his finger on what, exactly, Ludger’s looking for.

"Yeah, sounds good," Elle replies, mentioning something about having to let doctors rest otherwise who’d take care of other people when _they_ were sick?

Jude continues to drift in and out of consciousness, vaguely registering his temperature rising beyond normal 'heat' levels. A fever and his heat happening at the same time would be just rich, but Jude secretly hopes it’s that, because a light virus is among the least of his worries in heat. Light strokes of fingernails brush Jude’s face, brushing Jude’s bangs aside as a cool, wet towel lowers itself onto his forehead. Jude blinks his eyes into a squint, and Ludger is looking down at him with no intention of moving any time soon, as if he’d gone out of his way just to nurse Jude back to health. Jude, a med student and a bit of a do-gooder himself, isn’t unfamiliar with that kind of urge, and Jude mumbles, "Are you really a Spirius agent or just a Spirius nurse?"

Ludger laughs and reaches out, as if to touch Jude’s wrist or check his pulse. Suddenly, though, as if he’d been shocked by static, Ludger flinches back.

Jude doesn’t have the energy to ask about it, so he simply closes his eyes and whines in complaint. He wonders where all these sounds are coming from. For years he’d been able to keep quiet in heat; he’d perfected it down to a science, but with Ludger nearby, Jude finds himself mumbling made-up words and half sentences and occasionally, to his horror, _moaning_ during the times Ludger reaches out to touch him but pulls back at the last second in that infuriating way of his.

—

It’s early morning, Jude presumes, when he wakes up to a grunt from the top bunk, barely audible over the rumble of train tracks from outside the cabin. Jude takes a moment to assess the even breathing from above him and concludes that Ludger’s still sleeping, probably having a nightmare. Jude doesn’t like being woken up in the middle of the night, especially not when the last thing he needs is lack of sleep right before his heat, but he forgives Ludger quickly; it must be some special power of Ludger’s to be able to get people to like him with only a few words exchanged between them. That’s how it would’ve been explained in Rieze Maxia anyway: Ludger’s connection to the spirits, or something of the sort. The bubbling family Jude had heard from Ludger’s phone that afternoon certainly helped the situation, though; Jude has learned from experience that anyone with children in their household couldn’t have _too_ bad of a character, especially not if Ludger was able to deal with someone as demanding as Elle sounded, though she was sweet in her own way.

Ludger lets out a shuddering breath then, distracting Jude from his thoughts and immediately bringing him back to the situation at hand. Jude clutches his blankets when he feels a familiar heat swirling inside him, sweat starting to pool around his neck and on the insides of his thighs. It's still a week before his heat is technically scheduled to arrive, but Jude's heats have been irregular ever since he presented as an omega. It could also be due to several not life-threatening but irritating medical abnormalities, given that Jude's on-site research prevented him from being in the same place more than once. One condition in particular comes to mind: _aestus praematurus_.

Jude has heard about it before. With a doctor in the family, there isn’t much Jude _hasn’t_ heard of, but hearing about it and experiencing it are two completely different phenomena, as Jude has realized. In short, the condition meant that coming in contact (or even being in close quarters) with a particularly "suitable" (whatever that meant) alpha could trigger an omega’s heat to come early.

Jude’s mind jumps to twenty different conclusions as he hears his own breathing quicken against his will. He considers going into his bag for the suppressants, but that means having to get out of bed, and taking into account Ludger’s martial arts background, it would most likely wake him. Jude presses his lips together, breathing through his nose and squeezing his eyes shut. There’s no way he’ll last a few hours without waking Ludger at all; if he’s lucky, the train tracks could drown out his noises, but the movements alone would probably trigger a sort of protective instinct from Ludger. Ludger had told Jude not to mind waking him up, but recent developments make Jude think that Ludger will be much less likely to hold himself up to that promise.

In Rieze Maxia, at least in the Leronde area, heats are regarded as normal, and humans and spirits alike are more or less open to talking about them. If someone were to go into heat in public, bystanders would likely help them get to a hospital or sanctuary. Elympios is different; most sexual topics are taboo, dismissed as topics of the slums. While sex trafficking runs rampant in Elympios, the government turns a blind eye to it, or perhaps excuses it as a byproduct of the laissez faire economy. Either way, you're a slut for going into heat in public as much as you're deserving of the slurs being spat at you and the attacks from alpha onlookers. Jude doesn't want to imagine Ludger's reaction; with the likelihood of Ludger being a highstanding alpha, he'll likely request to switch rooms, not wanting to associate with someone like Jude, who he'll presume doesn't even have the money to buy suppressants to temper himself.

Jude’s just about to let out a tiny groan, partially in unintended arousal and partially in sorrow for his own pitiful state, when Ludger, in a muffled voice, whispers in a harsh voice what is undoubtedly _Jude's name_.

It’s low, almost like a growl from the back of his throat, but his continued breathing signals that he’s _still_ asleep. Jude can only posulate possible outcomes for a second before his eyes rip open, because the images on the backs of his eyelids— Ludger pressing him into the mattress, Ludger biting his neck to mark him, Ludger, _Ludger_ — are wildly overstimulating.

When Jude opens his mouth to breathe again, his voice betrays him. "Ludger," he says, and for a moment he’s surprised be how calm he sounds.

As if on cue, Ludger’s breathing stops for a moment before he sniffs, sounding vaguely like a sleep-laden teenager. "Jude?" he says. It comes out a lot more like the Ludger with whom Jude had been chatting that afternoon; quiet, reserved, tender. It’s only a matter of seconds before the wave of Jude’s scent washes over Ludger, and Jude, after having listened to changing patterns in patients’ breath, heartbeats, and unconscious movements for years, can pinpoint exactly when Ludger catches a whiff of it.

Ludger’s breathing catches again in his throat for longer this time. The knowledge that Ludger is right above him, hesitating but clearly aware of what’s going on, yet Jude can’t see his reactions, his facial expressions, makes Jude tighten his grip on his sheets, which he currently has pulled over his mouth and nose. "Ludger, come here," Jude says despite himself, and his calm tone before erodes slightly into a breathy whine that Ludger no doubt picks up on.

From what Jude has read and studied, alphas, with such an overt invitation especially during an omega’s heat, can hardly restrain themselves. Yet Ludger makes no movement besides a slight shift in his posture. There’s a tense pause as Jude wills himself to wait for Ludger’s reply. Finally, Ludger whispers, strained, "Jude, are you sure? I’m only able to keep myself up here because I can’t see you, but—"

It’s that moment when Jude puts it all together. The jolt he’d felt when he’d first touched Ludger that afternoon, the immediate ease he’d felt around Ludger even though all signs pointed to Ludger being an Extremely Suspicious Person, even the meaning of a "particularly suitable alpha".

Ludger is Jude’s mate.

It’s the only conclusion that makes sense. When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Jude almost laughs to himself that he's still able to keep Howe's egg principle in mind at such critical moments.

"Ludger," Jude says, and this time, Ludger groans at the sound of his name on Jude's tongue, "just— just come down here. You'll see."

In one leap, Ludger swings himself off the railing of the top bunk and lands with surprising grace on the floor beside their bed, movements resembling those of a large, predatory cat. Moonlight from the window catches Ludger's green eyes as he glances at Jude for a moment, and Jude can barely keep himself still despite being mostly wrapped in blankets. Ludger all but pounces on him, not bothering to get under the blankets before meeting Jude's lips as Jude pops his head out from under the sheets. They're both almost pulling back, tentative as possible in case either of them had miscalculated, but as soon as their lips touch, Jude knows he's right. And judging from Ludger's reaction, from the way Ludger rips the comforter out of Jude's hands faster than Jude can let go, he notices as well. Just a light brush of Ludger's lips against Jude's sends a violent shiver down Jude's body, and Jude gasps while Ludger slips his tongue into Jude's mouth, tracing every outline.

It feels foreign at first, having someone else explore him so intimately, but there's a thrill in it, too, of trusting Ludger entirely, and the thrill is what prompts the physical reactions from Jude: the jolts, the moans, the desperation. The primal instincts that completely overpower Jude's usual rationality feel so sudden and intense, coming in waves that wash over his entire body and flood his senses; the adrenaline feels like a drug.

Jude reaches up, disregarding the blankets completely, and winds his fingers into Ludger's hair. Ludger groans and scrambles to get under the sheets as quickly as possible, though with the heat emanating from them both, the blankets are entirely unnecessary.

Jude leans up to chase Ludger as he pulls away, but Ludger pushes Jude's shoulders down into the bed roughly, an action that Jude finds incredibly hot. He moans in appreciation, and Ludger grins against Jude's lips, hovering over him. "Didn't know you were— _ah_ , an alpha," Jude breathes, faltering when Ludger grinds his hips down into Jude's.

"You seemed like a beta yourself," Ludger admits, and Jude laughs, wrapping his arms around Ludger's neck and pulling Ludger's head down toward his own. Jude's in heat, but they can't seem to stop just _kissing_ each other, Ludger teasing Jude with fluttery pecks before pulling away and then pushing back in again with a harsh, possessive kiss that leaves Jude panting for breath. Ludger's lips feel like liquid fire against Jude's mouth, sending jolts through Jude's veins and straight into his core, and he hadn't known how much he'd wanted this until now. Jude's scoured every possible source on the topic, but dry medical books do nothing to describe the sensations he feels as Ludger's hands trail down his body, impossibly slow, until they stop at his hips, gripping them hard.

Ludger is attractive, if not infuriatingly ideal. He has a lean figure lined with muscles from years of training. Broad shoulders fill out his build, but they taper down to a narrow waist and long legs that must serve his height and agility.

Jude can already feel his boxers starting to get wet with the mixture of precome from his cock and the moisture seeping from his entrance. Jude wraps his legs around Ludger's hips, pressing their crotches together, and the pressure, the friction between his cock and the fabric of his boxers, makes him moan involuntarily.

" _God_ ," Ludger growls into Jude's neck, sucking hard at a spot just under Jude's jawline.

"It's so much easier like this," Jude says absently, rolling his hips against Ludger's again, and he can feel Ludger's cock straining against his pants. It's true; just the touch of another person alone is enough to ease the pain slightly, but with Ludger, it actually feels _good_. It feels intimate, safe— much safer than whimpering alone in a closet, nearly gagging himself to keep quiet as he rutted against his own hand to relieve some of it. "Feels— good," Jude pants.

"Good," Ludger says. He finally moves his hand around to the small of Jude's back, pressing his palm against the area tenderly for a moment before grabbing Jude's boxers and slipping them off his legs. Ludger pulls back here, and Jude looks up at him with a questioning glance before flushing at Ludger giving him a once-over appreciatively. Ludger's gaze is incredibly intense, and Jude, with his legs still wrapped around Ludger, can actually feel Ludger's dick twitch as Jude's skin no doubt blushes from olive to a more pink tone.

Ludger traces Jude’s entrance with his index finger, and Jude can feel himself clenching instinctively but at the same time pushing his ass back against Ludger’s finger. He presses his lips together and lets out a moan from the back of his throat, reaching up for Ludger’s shoulders. " _Please_ ," Jude whispers, feeling Ludger shiver, but Ludger continues to tease, just barely dipping his finger into Jude.

"I need to come inside you," Ludger says in a strained voice; he means it entirely matter-of-factly: it’s been proven to be much more effective at tempering an omega’s heat, but Jude can’t help being turned on by the way Ludger says it while suddenly beginning to thrust his finger in and out of Jude. Jude barely holds back a scream, choking and letting it trail off instead, rolling his hips against Ludger.

"Then hurry up and fuck me," Jude says, flushing at his own words and burying his face into Ludger’s shoulder, his arms wrapped around Ludger’s neck. Ludger eases another finger in so subtly that Jude barely notices until Ludger’s spreading him out with three fingers pressing into Jude’s walls. One of Ludger’s fingers slides against a spot deep inside Jude that makes Jude jerk his hips up against Judger’s stomach and muffle a scream into Ludger’s shoulder. "L-Ludger, ah— _ahh_ …" Jude moans. He feels Ludger’s cock twitch at that, and Ludger’s Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows thickly.

Ludger withdraws his fingers, keeping his hand braced against Jude’s ass as he uses his other to guide his dick into Jude, Jude clinging onto Ludger’s neck for dear life. It feels odd at first, though Jude would be lying if he said he hadn’t tried it himself before with his own fingers, swirling them around in the fluid dripping from his entrance every time he went into heat, but he never went deep enough to have it feel _that good_. The feeling of Ludger sliding into him easily makes Jude push back the rest of the way, fucking himself on Ludger. " _Jude_ ," Ludger says in strained surprise, but Jude is barely listening at that point, rutting himself back on Ludger’s dick. The relief from the pressure feels so good, yet another type of pressure builds up inside Jude that has him grinding against Ludger harder as Ludger finally gets the hint and establishes a desperate rhythm between the two of them.

He lowers Jude back against the mattress again, holding Jude’s hips down with surprising strength, and Jude opens his eyes to look at Ludger. Ludger’s hair is plastered to his face, sweat dripping down his neck and chest, and Jude can feel another deep flush rise to his cheeks just from the sight of it. As Ludger starts to fuck him again, Jude wants to cant his hips up, but Ludger’s hold is strong, and that just makes it so much _better_. "Ludger, I’m, ahha— _ah_ , I’m gonna—"

Ludger lowers himself onto Jude so that they’re pressed against each other, and he slides a hand around the base of Jude’s cock and squeezes. Jude doesn’t realize how desperate he is until tears spring to his eyes from being denied release. "Not yet, just a little more," Ludger says, still thrusting in and out of Jude. Ludger has to come inside Jude for this to work, otherwise Jude will be suffering until Ludger can get it up again, but Jude can hardly think clearly at this point, thrashing against the mattress with his fingers tearing into the sheets.

Jude nearly cries when he feels Ludger’s movements start getting erratic, and he instinctively clenches around Ludger, rolling his hips up. Ludger’s hand is still around Jude’s cock, so Jude forces Ludger’s other hand off of him so that he can grind against Ludger, bringing him closer, too. "Ludger," Jude moans, and Ludger growls on a particularly hard thrust. He comes inside Jude then as he sinks his teeth into Jude’s neck. Jude tilts his head, half delirious, baring the rest of his skin for Ludger as Ludger pulls back slightly, panting. "Let me…come," Jude says breathily.

Ludger recovers surprisingly quickly and loosens his grip and trails his hand up and down Jude’s cock instead. Jude’s hips stutter as the heat in the pit of his stomach builds, his own movements getting jerkier. It only takes a couple weak thrusts from Ludger and a whispered, "Come for me," for Jude to come, his vision blacking out as he squeezes his eyes shut and opens his mouth into a drawn-out moan, arching his back off the bed. Ludger works him until Jude’s breathing slows slightly; they’re almost perfectly in sync with the way Ludger’s movements mold into Jude’s.

Jude’s senses come back to him one by one; the rumbling train tracks, the thermostat blowing a cool nighttime breeze their cabin, and a silver glint along Ludger’s hair and skin as he looks at Jude with a gentle smile. Jude laughs lightly. "Wow."

"Yeah," Ludger says. Jude vaguely acknowledges his rational brain telling him to feel more than a little gross at their current situation, sheets soaked with sweat, legs sticky and tangled around each other, underwear discarded somewhere on the floor of the cabin. Ludger wraps his arm around Jude then, though, and Jude relaxes into his hold, sinking into the mattress.

"I mean, what are the chances," Jude murmurs, "that you’d be— I mean, that we’d be on a train together, sharing a room, and then," he continues, babbling incoherent nonsense as exhaustion overtakes him. He feels Ludger press a kiss into the back of his neck before drifting off to sleep.

—

Jude’s assaulted with the overwhelming stench of sex immediately upon waking up. It’s only after that when he feels Ludger’s arm still slung loosely around his waist, Ludger’s breathing slow on the back of his neck, Ludger’s legs tangled with Jude’s, the covers pulled up to their chins. Jude’s heard of people having foggy memories of their first time, especially the morning after, but for Jude, the entire event comes back to him almost too vividly, his cheeks flushing again as his body involuntarily tenses up. Ludger must feel it too because he shifts then, murmuring something.

"Bet you’re regretting not taking the first class cabin now, huh," Jude says quietly, and he can feel Ludger’s smile against his skin.

In response, Ludger tightens his hold on Jude and presses a hard but firm kiss into Jude’s shoulder, making Jude scrunch his shoulders and laugh.

"We should get cleaned up," Jude says, turning around to face Ludger, and how does he look that good after just having woken up? Ludger’s hair sticks up in just the right ways, the side having been flattened by the pillow, but his other side ruffled and messy. "I have towels," Jude adds.

"Mm," Ludger says, and Jude frowns, pulling out of the bed, but Ludger’s leg quickly locks around him and pulls him back down. He mumbles something again.

"What?" Jude says, feeling like he’s having a conversation with a wall, but he’s amused nonetheless.

"We have three days," Ludger says softly, his voice heavy with sleep. He brushes Jude’s hair aside with his fingertips and trails his hands down to Jude’s shoulder, giving him a small massage in the process, and Jude subconsciously lets his eyelids flutter closed and breathes out a soft noise.

"Do you have a hotel booked in Drellin yet?" Jude says absently, struggling to hold back moans as Ludger’s fingers become more insistent, pressing against all the knots in his shoulders.

"I can make adjustments," Ludger says, his breath suddenly against Jude’s ear, and Jude shivers.


End file.
